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Newest Ubuntu dubbed 'Hardy Heron'

Receives long term support status

The first version of Ubuntu to be released next year has been unveiled, and in the tradition of affable alliterations ascending the alphabet, the OS has been codenamed "Hardy Heron".

Heron will be the successor to Gutsy Gibbon (version 7.10), which is due out in October 2007. Heron will set to arrive in April 2008.

The version will be the first Ubuntu version since Dapper Drake (version 6.06) to be given a "long term support" release, which means users get security updates for five years for the server edition and three years for the desktop edition. Regular editions of the operating system have 18 months of support.

The ardeidae-dubbed OS was revealed on the blog of Jono Bacon, the community manager for Ubuntu:

"Each new release gives us all an opportunity to shine, irrespective of which bricks in the project we are laying, and this is at the heart of our belief - working together to produce an Operating System that will empower its users and shape the IT industry, putting free software at the corner-stone of our direction."

Those convinced by the communal caterwaul can canter to the developer community page to conspire and consort. Ideas for features in the Hardy Heron release are expressly welcome. For the personal touch, in October the community will hold an Ubuntu Developer Summit In Cambridge, Massachusetts to discuss the proposed features and their implementation. Bacon said those unwilling to leave their basement will still be able to participate in the summit via VoIP and IRC. ®